Chapter 7

(Vibe: The Cold by Exitmusic)

The corner of his upper lip raised slightly and she heard a rumbling building in his chest.

All she could do was take a big step back. She didn't know what he was about to do. But she was sure that he was seconds away from making a move and she didn't want to get in his way.

Noticing her movement, the mans head turned toward her, but his gaze never got a chance to land on her. Daryl instantly seized the opportunity.

He pounced from the ground and dived at the man, flying at him with enough force to knock him of his feet.

The sound of the gun being fired had her dropping to the ground on instinct.

As her ass hit the dirt, panic rose up in her quickly, as she wondered if Daryl had been shot, but all those concerns were erased when she looked over and noticed the gun in the dirt.

She had missed Daryl knocking the gun from his hand, she missed them both landing on the ground tangled up together.

All she'd caught of Daryl's attack, was the scene she witnessing right now.

She had seen him in more fights then she could could count, whether it was with walkers or with people. But she had never seen him like this. And she couldn't help but wonder if he'd always had this hidden away inside of him. Maybe it was buried within him so deep, that even he wasn't aware of it's existence.

He fought the savior with complete disregard for his own safety. He fought the man with more aggression then she ever knew one person could possess. It didn't matter the size of the man and she doubted it would have mattered if there were two more of them here. Daryl would win.

Right now, she didn't wonder how he'd ever managed to escape the compound. Right now, she was wondering how anyone had managed to contain him.

The way he moved, the sounds he made, the cold look in his eyes,... all of it held a primal fury. Whatever had happened to him, what ever it was that had changed in Daryl, was monumental and she had never been more aware of that fact, then she was right now.

When the man tried to lift himself up, Daryl took the opportunity to slam his own head into the mans face.

When the man tried to push Daryl off him, the movement was met by Daryl quickly snatching up the man's hand in his, then snapping it back.

The crying and begging that the man let out, went unnoticed by Daryl. He never stopped for a single second.

Then the pained sounds that the stranger managed to make, began to die out, until the man was silent. But she could still hear Daryl fists colliding with his face. It continued on, long after the man was quite obviously dead.

When she finally managed to take her eyes off the saviors unrecognizable face, she found that an overwhelmed and distant look, had now settled in Daryl's eyes.

It was clear that he was caught in a trance. He was caught in the same cage that usually had him pacing for hours on end.

"Daryl?"

She was on his left, away from the fist that flew back and forth, without any signs of stopping. She decided she was safe to crawl forward and settle on her knees by him.

The grunts he was making were evidence that he was tired. She also knew that Daryl had a backup supply of energy and he was able to draw on it when his heart was racing. Like it surely was right now. But she didn't want to wait for him to drain himself, she wanted to help him now.

She had never tried to pull him from an episode. She had never been able to consider a way of trying. And as much as she hated to think it, she was sure it was dangerous to approach him when he was like this. It sometimes appeared as though he had left his body. And what was left behind, didn't resemble something that could be reached or reasoned with.

"It's over. You can stop."

She spoke loudly, so that he could hear her over the hits he was still inflicting, but kept her voice calm so that she didn't frighten him, or cause an unwanted response.

But still, he kept going.

Without thinking she reached out to touch his shoulder. "It's over Daryl you can-"

Her words broke off, as her hand landed on him. The contact had been enough to snap him out of what he was doing, but not enough to clear the fear and anger that was consuming him.

In a second after making contact with him, he turned toward her, with his fist clenched and raised in the air, ready to strike.

She fell back on her hands. There wasn't enough time to do anything else to protect herself. She could only sit there as he pulled his elbow back and tensed his muscles. Her eyes snapped shut as she waited for a blow.

But the hit never came.

She opened her eyes a second later, when Daryl started releasing a wheezing sound, whistling from his chest, as though he was being suffocated.

Quickly he mirrored her position and fell back on his hands, using them to crawl away from her.

She could see fear in his expression, the same fear she had seen when he was woken from a nightmare.

His eyes darted from her, over to the mangled body on the ground and he suddenly began shaking his head.

The breathless sound he was making only got louder as the seconds passed, giving Daryl more time to take in the scene around him.

The panic in him, left him stumbling and falling over himself, landing him back on the sound he suddenly started making now, was the closest he'd come to an actual word, since her arrival. But that word was No, and it was repeated over and over again as he stumbled back and struggled to get to his feet.

"Daryl, it's ok. Everything is ok." She promised, though she found it hard to sound sincere, especially considering the way he looked right now. It was much easier to believe that everything was not okay.

He looked down at what remained of the savior in complete astonishment, as though he had only just realized everything that had happened. Whatever mode he had set himself into, what ever switch he had flipped so that he could fight, had been flipped back and he was clearly not handling the sight of before him.

His voice grew louder and his distress increased, but he finally managed to climb his way to his feet.

She quickly rose to chase after him, as he began heading towards the woods. Folding his arms over the sides of his face, and hunching himself forward as he moved.

Usually she let him go and have his time alone if he needed it, but she had never seen him leave while looking the way that he did right now.

Everything inside of her was screaming to stop him.

When his arms dropped, he shook his hands violently at his side, as though he was trying to remove something from his skin. Maybe he wanted to remove the blood that covered his hands, or maybe he was trying to rid himself of the memories that were still fresh in his mind. Maybe he was trying to remove the feeling of the mans face being crushed beneath his fists. No matter what it was, no amount of shaking was going to remove it.

"Daryl, please just come sit down" she begged as she chased after him. But Daryl charged ahead, quickening his pace more and more with each word she spoke.

She wasn't watching where she was going. She wasn't paying attention to where her feet landed on the ground. She was so desperate to stop him from leaving, that she missed the root twisting up from the ground. But she felt it the moment that her shoe was suddenly caught in it.

When she went down, she went down hard. Her hands flew out, hoping to stop herself from landing face first, but as usual, luck was not on her side. They slid out from under her and her head struck something hard.

"Shit!"

She spat out the string of curse words as she covered her brow with her hand, only pulling it away when she felt the warm moisture cover her palm.

The sudden growl had her looking up, finding him on his knees in front of her, moving closer and closer until her face was only inches from his. The fresh cut mixed in with the hits she had taken from the savior, would assure that it looked worse then it was. But she knew that she was going to have a hard time convincing him of that right now.

He didn't hesitate in taking her wrist and pulling her hand from the cut, so that he could inspect it. And he didn't think twice about settling his other hand on the side of her neck, to hold her in place.
His mouth hung open in distress as he took in the cut, even though she was sure it was nothing to worry about.

When his eyes finally left the wound, it was only to look around him. She followed his gaze wondering what he was looking for, until his eyes settled on the rock that she had landed on.

She fought to hold back her laughter when she noticed him glare at it. She couldn't be entirely sure that he wasn't about to punch the thing.

"Daryl it's ok. I'm fine" she assured him, the sound of her voice brought his eyes back to her. He grunted out a frustrated sound and his hands suddenly gripped her waist and pull her to her feet with him.

She was far to stunned by the close contact to object any more then she had. All she could focus on was the concern on his face and his arm wrapped around her while he pulled her towards her tent.

He sat her down like she was a doll and quickly started looking around for something he could use to tend to the cut, but also help ease the anxiety he was feeling at the sight of it.

And though she knew it wasn't the right thing to do. She decided to use his current state to her advantage.

She watched him for a moment, as he dug around through one of her bags, one that she knew only held cooking supplies and nothing that would help him.

The expression he was wearing was unlike him.

The Daryl she knew held so much back from his face, especially if he was afraid or uncomfortable. Because of this she had spent years learning to read his eyes, or focus on the tone of his voice and she would use them to direct her, but that was no longer necessary. And she hated herself for thinking up a way to take advantage of that venerability. Even if it was something that was going to help him. She hated that it seemed like her only real weapon through this whole thing, had been manipulation.

"I have a first aid kit" she said softly, making his head snap in her direction, before his whole body froze.

When she didn't continue, or didn't make a move to get it for him, it was clear that he was annoyed. Both of his hands fell out in front of him, as he groaned out a sound that was intended to force her forward.

He wanted answers and she had every intention of giving them to him, but not straight away.

"I'll give it to you. But can you do something for me first?"

A/N: Let me know what you guys think of this one. All reviews are greatly appreciated.